Whilst cloudy, I thought I would get my microscope out! Amongst a tiny sample of moss in my garden (absolutely teeming with microbial life) I found a Tardigrade also known as a Water Bear - first attempt - which is an eight-legged segmented micro-animal and quite an incredible creature.
Second attempt, taken with a basic stereo microscope, ASI120MC Planetary Camera (and some gaffer tape), Firecap.
Tardigrades are found everywhere, from mountaintops to the deep sea and mud volcanoes, and from tropical rainforests to the Antarctic. Tardigrades are among the most resilient animals known on Earth, able to survive extreme conditions such as exposure to extreme temperatures, extreme pressures, air deprivation, radiation, dehydration, and starvation - which would quickly kill most other known forms of life. In experiments, Tardigrades have even survived exposure to outer space. They diverged from their closest relatives in the Cambrian Period, over 500 million years ago.
Dinosaurs existed about 200 million years ago.
7 сен 2024
